Bacchanal | John DeAngelo
Since we were always naked around the house
the sweet sensation of hormones were ever alluring
as was the perfumed fragrance of starburst lilies
adding their own special tropical intoxications
and it didn’t take much for one or often both of us
regardless of what we were doing at the time
to initiate the ritual rites to bless our desires
and oh! how we loved playing Bacchanal.
We’d light the fav of the month incense
and one of us would break out the wine
the other would bring the gold goblets
we purchased at a small shop on Mykonos2
fill them, crown each other with old tie-dye scarves
we had stashed from having enjoyed this game
before, its lust, its unleashed passions, swelling
like a tsunami in a lovers’ Disney World
overflowing with new and magical surprises
that always kept us coming back again and again.
John DeAngelo was born and raised in Greenwich Village, NYC. And if asked, he’d tell you that he’s always been an artist, both a poet and a visual artist. A veteran of Viet Nam, he pursued graduate study at Rutgers University with poet Nathaniel Tarn who took him under his tutelage.
He has been published in numerous magazines both print and online, including Red Wheelbarrow 14, Worksheets 67&68, Flora Fiction, Syndic, The World Poetry Anthology, Thorny Locust, Carmina, etc.
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